Sunday, December 31, 2017

Susah Sinyal - A Drama Comedy of Mother Daughter's Relationship from Ernest Prakasa

At last, after almost 2 weeks playing in theaters, my wife and I finally got the chance to see this movie. There seemed to be always something or some reasons that made us cancel our plan in earlier occasions. Until we decided we would see this one today, on the very last day of the year 2017. So what was the movie all about? Let us find out, shall we?

Brief Story Line

After working many years in a major law firm, Ellen (Adinia Wirasti - Critical Eleven, Kartini etc) and her good friend Iwan (Ernest Prakasa - Ngenest, Stip & Pensil etc) wanted to start their own law firm. To assist them, they hired a young intern named Astrid (Valerie Thomas). As usual in a new firm, there would be various challenges they would have to face.

Friday, December 29, 2017

The Greatest Showman - A "Could Have Been" Better Musical Movie of The Man Who Created Circus

Today, after weeks of watching the trailer to this movie, finally it premiered for the first time in Indonesia. My wife and I were expecting to see this one as it seemed to promise a wonderful story of P.T. Barnum, the man who created the Circus. Since there was not a lot of theaters playing the movie, we had limited options to see this. Luckily it played in the cinema not too far from our home at Lotte Avenue. Anyway, let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman - Wolverine in various X-Men movies, Real Steel etc) was a man of poor background and had very huge imagination. He was not satisfied with just having a life as a regular working people and since he promised his wife Charity (Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain, Dawson's Creek TV series etc) that he would give the best kind of life to her and to their daughters Caroline and Helen, he always tried to do something grand and earn wealth plus people's respect.

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Pitch Perfect 3 - The Final Performance of The Bellas

This movie was already playing in Indonesian cinemas since yesterday but I was unable to see it on its premiere date. So instead my wife and I saw this one today. To be honest I have never seen the first and second Pitch Perfect movie when I saw the trailer to the movie few weeks ago, but when I noticed it looked like a funny movie, I immediately looked for them online. So I managed to see Pitch Perfect and its sequel last week before I see this one. Well let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

The girls from a cappella group The Bellas consisted of Beca (Anna Kendrick - Trolls, The Accountant etc), Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson - Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Grimsby etc), Chloe (Brittany Snow - John Tucker Must Die, Hairspray etc), Aubrey (Anna Camp - True Blood TV series etc), Lily (Hana Mae Lee), Cynthia (Ester Dean), Flo (Chrissie Fit), Jessica (Kelley Jakle), Ashley (Shelley Regner) and Stacie (Alexis Knapp) have graduated from university and felt they were going nowhere in their lives after Bellas. So when they had an opportunity to perform in the tour of USO (United Service Organization), the Bellas decided to form the group together and sing once again. With the addition of Emily (Hailee Steinfeld - The Edge of Seventeen, 3 Days to Kill etc) who was the next generation Bellas and still in University, they went ahead with the tour.

Monday, December 25, 2017

Shock Wave - The Cool 2017 Action Movie Featuring Andy Lau

I have seen first half of this movie while on my way back from my family trip to Pontianak 2 months ago in the in-flight entertainment of Batik Air. I was having difficulty in seeing the second half and conclusion (perhaps as I was not serious enough looking for it). Luckily in the Celestial Movies cable TV, it was promoted that the movie would be playing in December. Last night was the day the movie premiered for the first time in that channel and it so happened that the hotel we stayed in during our weekend staycation have this channel so I could see it again till finished. Well without further ado, let us move on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

After almost completely stopping a robbery attack led by Peng Hong nicknamed Blast (Wu Jiang - Monster Hunt, 1911 etc), an undercover Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Bureau agent named Cheung JS (Andy Lau - Chasing the DragonThe Great Wall etc) was highly appreciated by the police department. During his undercover assignment, Cheung's handler was officer Chow (Felix Wong - 1983 version Legend of Condor Heroes TV series etc) and he also worked closely with chief Kong (Philip Keung - Trivisa, Beast Stalker etc). 

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle - Sequel to the 1995 Famous Robin Williams' Movie

After teased by the trailer to this movie which was shown weeks in weeks out, finally the film premiered in the Indonesian cinemas today. It so happened that I have got 2 vouchers to the 4DX cinema that I have to utilize before 28th December, so it was lucky that this movie also played in the 4DX theater in CGV Grand Indonesia. My wife and I decided to go and see the movie there to experience all the effects which I thought would be awesome. We shall proceed with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

A high school student who loved to play video game named Spencer (Alex Wolff - My Friend Dahmer etc) was punished to the detention room with 3 other students, a rather shallow selfish popular girl Bethany (Madison Iseman - Still the King TV series etc), a popular football star Fridge (Ser'Darius Blain - When The Game Stands Tall etc), and a shy awkward girl named Martha (Morgan Turner). In that room, they found an old type of video game titled JUMANJI which they tried to play. Each one of them chose the character in that game which apparently made all 4 of them somehow transported into the game itself in the Jumanji world.

Friday, December 15, 2017

Ferdinand - A Nice Story of An Extraordinary Bull

Today, there was an animated movie that premiered in Indonesia. I was a bit surprised that this movie would be premiering on the same day as in the US since we were already shown Star Wars: The Last Jedi earlier. In any case, it is our gain as we are not too far behind like in other previous new movies. My wife and I utilized our final vouchers that we acquire from my credit card (which would expire in less than 2 weeks time). So we were quite happy to see the movie for free 😀. Anyway, let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

A very big bull named Ferdinand (voiced by WWE wrestler John Cena - Daddy's Home 2Trainwreck etc) was having a nice life with a girl that loved and adored him named Nina (Lily Day). He was a gentle kind-hearted bull who unlike other bulls did not enjoy violence and loved flowers. One day, due to some reasons, he was separated from Nina and ended up at the place he despised the most, where he would meet with other bulls who had been trained to fight matadors all their lives.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - The Eighth Episode That Really Lived Up to the Hype

I was very fortunate that I could see this movie on its premiere date in Indonesia. I have already purchased the ticket since last Saturday and aimed for the 5.45 PM show at Epicentrum XXI which had a Dolby Atmos sound system and a very large screen. This time my wife did not accompany me as she had other events that she had to attend to (plus she was not a major fan of Star Wars anyway as she had not seen the complete movies). Well, let us get on to the movie.

Brief Story Line

The story started not too distant from the ending of Star Wars episode VII. The main plot of the movie would revolve around the Resistance led by General Leia (Carrie Fisher) who had to carry on with the war against the First Order led by Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis - Gollum in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Caesar in new Planet of the Apes trilogy etc) with his right hand man general Hux (Domhnall Gleeson - American Made, The Revenant etc) and trusted "student" Kylo Ren (Adam Driver - Girls TV series, Lincoln etc). 

Saturday, December 9, 2017

The Warriors Gate - An Unenjoyable East Meets West Movie

I saw the poster to this movie last year in a cinema, but it played only few days in the theaters that I did not have the chance to see it then. So when I saw that the cable TV channel Cinemax was going to play it on Friday night, I had reminded myself to see this. Last night, I almost forgotten about it but luckily while I was browsing through TV channel schedules, I saw that it would be playing at 9PM. Well, let us get on with the movie now.

Brief Story Line

A teenage boy named Jack Bronson (Uriah Shelton - The Glades TV series, Blue web series etc) was living with his mom Annie (Sienna Guillory - Eragon, Inkheart etc). They were having some financial problems where they might be losing their house. Jack was very skillful in playing video games using an avatar of his creation called The Black Knight. Due to some reasons, Jack was somehow transported to ancient China where he met with Wizard (Francis Ng - 2000 AD, Infernal Affairs II etc) who was having great wizard skills.

Thursday, December 7, 2017

Ajin: Demi-Human - A Unique Action Movie of Humans Who Could Not Die

It was one of those days where there was no major Hollywood blockbuster movie premiering in the Indonesian theater on a Wednesday, so my wife and I ended up watching a movie that I was quite interested to see. I saw portion of the trailer to this Japanese movie few days ago and was immediately intrigued by the cool action sequences, despite not having a clue at all of what the movie was about. Anyway I convinced my wife to see this one in CGV Grand Indonesia by utilizing some of the CGV cinema vouchers we had from the CGV cinema opening event in JGC and watching the movie Message from the King. So let us move on with the movie.

Brief Story line

It was told that in Japan, there were some people who due to some reasons were not able to die and they were called Ajin/Demi-human. A young man named Kei Nagai (Takeru Satoh - Kamen Rider Den O movies and series etc) was one of those people who was probed and analyzed like guinea pigs in a Ajin research facility managed by government. The facility was headed by Tosaki (Tetsuji Tamayama - Lupin the 3rd etc) who was always accompanied by a woman named Izumi (Rina Kawaei - Sailor Zombies etc).

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

A Bad Moms Christmas - Sequel to Those Bad Moms Who Just Wanted to Have Their Own Christmas

It was quite surprising that the sequel to Bad Moms was already made and entered the theaters in just a year time. I saw the original back in September last year with my wife and now we could see the sequel aimed for Christmas that started to play in Indonesian cinemas today. My wife and I chose to see this film in CGV Grand Indonesia. So let us get on with the movie.

Brief Story Line

The story still revolved around the moms from the original movie: Amy (Mila Kunis - Max Payne, That 70's Show TV series etc), Kiki (Kristen Bell - When in Rome, Veronica Mars TV series etc) and Carla (Kathryn Hahn - Captain Fantastic, Crossing Jordan TV series etc). They were all quite stressful with the Christmas day right around the corner. Being a mother certainly gave them a lot of pressure of having to make the perfect Christmas celebration. Things become a lot more complicated when suddenly each of their mother coming to their house.

Monday, December 4, 2017

(TV SERIES) Riverdale Season 1 - A Great Dark Reimagining of Archie Comics

I cannot remember from where I read about Archie comics characters being made into a dark version TV series. When my wife wanted to buy few Archie comic books last week, I suddenly remembered of my intention to watch the series. So I immediately look for it online and started to see this since few days ago. Yesterday, I finally completed the first season and could not wait to write my views of the series. Well here goes.

Brief Story Line

The series was set in the year 2016 in the small town of Riverdale which was famous for its maple syrup. The story was narrated by Jughead Jones (Cole Sprouse - The Suite Life Zack & Cody TV series etc) who also introduced us to the main characters aside from himself. Started with Archie Andrews (KJ Apa - A Dog's Purpose etc) who was in the football team and started to realize he loved music and wanted to be good in it. Then there was Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart - Miss Stevens, The Good Neighbor etc) who was Archie's neighbor and best friend since childhood, together with Jughead. It was told that there was a new girl in school transferred from New York named Veronica "Ronnie" Lodge (Camila Mendes) who had to follow her mother Hermione (Marisol Nichols - Big Momma's House 2, 24 TV series etc) moved to Riverdale due to some problems relating to her father.

Friday, December 1, 2017

Daddy's Home 2 - The Sequel with More Daddies to Enjoy

Yesterday my wife and I were thinking of just taking a rest but then she thought of seeing a fun movie. So it was decided that we would watch this movie which we know for sure would be a light one as it was a comedy movie. We have seen the original movie either from cable TV or online streaming and we already know what we would be getting if we saw this one. The movie did not play in the nearest theater near our home so we went to Kuningan City instead. Now we shall go more into the movie. 

Brief Story Line

As you would have known from the original movie, Brad (Will Ferrell - Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Blades of Glory etc) who was married to Sara (Linda Cardellini - The Lazarus Project, The Founder etc) and was the step father of Sara's children Megan (Scarlett Estevez) and Dylan (Owen Vaccaro) had become quite close to Dusty (Mark Wahlberg - Patriots Day, Transformers: The Last Knight etc), Sara's ex husband and the real father of Megan and Dylan. Brad and Sara also had a child of their own named Griffy. Meanwhile Dusty already married to Karen (Alessandra Ambrosio) who also had a daughter Adrianna (Didi Costine) from her previous marriage with Roger (WWE wrestler John Cena - The Wall etc).